{"id":1719,"date":"2021-08-23T10:47:23","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T10:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/?p=1719"},"modified":"2021-08-23T10:48:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T10:48:54","slug":"not-easy-being-a-woman-in-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/?p=1719","title":{"rendered":"Not easy being a woman in Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By Tanveer Zaman Khan (translated from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tanveerzaman.khan\/posts\/4768315813185831\/\">Urdu<\/a> by Dr Karamat Iqbal)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the\nPakistani society women are treated as a symptom of all that is bad. Even\nworse, men are seen as inherently good and whose corruption is blamed on women.\nWomen are the temptress who use their obscene bodies to lead the innocent man\nastray. In fairy tales and myths and legends women are presented as witches and\nghosts; to be avoided. This creates a most horrendous picture and perception of\nwomen in the nation\u2019s mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All this in\na society where men control absolutely everything. Within the home fathers,\nbrothers and husbands, in their own way and with their supposedly God-given\npowers do as they wish; to control women, to abuse them and destroy their lives\nthrough such evil cultural practices as :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Wani\n&#8211; a custom found in parts of Pakistan where girls, often minors, are given in\nmarriage or servitude to an aggrieved family as compensation to end disputes.\nVani is a form of arranged or forced child marriage, and the result of\npunishment decided by a council of tribal elders. <\/li><li>Karo\nkari \u2013 a practice of honour killing. The country has the highest number of\ndocumented and estimated honour killings per capita of any country in the world.\nsuch a killing is murder of a member of a family by other members, due to the\nbelief the victim has brought dishonour upon the family or community. The death\nof the victim is viewed as a way to restore the reputation and honour of the\nfamily.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the\nwoman leaves the home she knows she is entering space that does not belong to\nher. Men will treat her as if she is a wild animal who has escaped the jungle.\nShe will be raped by their looks alone, creating absolute terror for her. If a\nman takes a fancy to her and she rejects his advances then he may resort to throwing\nacid on her; a case of \u2018if I cannot have you no one can\u2019. If a woman ever looks\nlikely to gain the upper hand in a dispute with a man then he has the whole\nsocial, legal, political and religious system on his side, to ensure that his\nmasculinity is not marred even the slightest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the rest\nof the system is not enough then the Urdu language will step in with its rich\nvocabulary that can be used by men and the general society to put the woman in\nher lowest possible place. Labels such as: insolent, audacious, shameless,\nimpudent, impertinent, wicked, freedom-loving, pleasure-seeker, vagabond and,\nif all else fails to categorise and castigate women then there is always\n\u2018westernised\u2019, a catch-all label that defines everything that is undesirable\nand objectionable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When women\ndemonstrate against their oppression, such as through the Aurat March (Women\u2019s\nMarch) they are subjected to propaganda from the media and especially from the\ngovernment and religious lobby: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><em>They\nare Western agents, being funded by the West<\/em><\/li><li><em>They\nwant too much freedom <\/em><\/li><li><em>They\nare all lesbians<\/em><\/li><li><em>They\ndress inappropriately and unacceptably <\/em><\/li><li><em>The\neducated (too much education!) women are leading other women astray<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From the\nmoment they are born, women are unwelcome and seen as a burden. The birth of\nthe first girl maybe tolerated but the arrival of second or third girl in a\nfamily will likely lead to visits by relatives to commiserate with her\nunfortunate parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some argue\nfor more laws. In reality it\u2019s not a need for more laws it is fair and serious\nimplementation of existing laws, to protect women as free and equal human\nbeings. Above all what is needed is change of a toxic anti-woman culture where\nmen flaunt multiple wives, something that is supported by religious leaders as\na good thing. Men have created the culture for their own benefit, according to\nrules that suit them and where they have a free-for-all in oppression of women.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether she\nis killed, raped, sexually assaulted, attacked when she leaves home\u2026 it is the\nwoman who is to blame. She is blamed whether she wishes to work, to be\neducated, to leave home or indeed demands any rights as a human being.\nAccording to the county\u2019s justice system a woman is expected to put up abuse\nfrom men. It is a laughing matter that if a woman wishes to bring a case of rape\nor other assault or abuse against a man she will need witnesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Across the\nPakistani society abuse of women (and children) has skyrocketed to heights\nnever known before. Nowhere is safe for women. Even women parliamentarians are\nabused and assaulted by their male colleagues, which makes it known for the\nwomen that they are in a male space which does not welcome them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The whole\nsystem &#8211; from the lowest clerk to the highest office &#8211; is of the view that\nwomen are to be blamed for their rape and murder. Even the Prime Minister Imran\nKhan has blamed rape of women on their inappropriate dress. His comments have shaped\nthe national discourse. This led the activist and writer Noor Zaheer (author of\n\u2018My God is Woman\u2019 and \u2018Denied by Allah\u2019) to point out that inappropriate dress\naccusation does not explain abuse of women. According to her, what the Prime\nMinister said has been said for generations, where victims are blamed for their\nabuse. So, the accusatory finger begins to point towards the victim and away\nfrom the perpetrator. Such sexist attitudes are designed to limit the lives of\nwomen. In any case what he said is nonsense when one is to look at\nappropriately dressed women who are abused, such as those on the Hajj\npilgrimage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The recent murder of Noor\nMukadam in Pakistan is a sad illustration of the problem of women in Pakistan.\nDescribed by The Guardian newspaper as \u2018gender terrorism epidemic\u2019, it involved\nthe 27-year-old woman allegedly tortured and beheaded by the son of a business\ntycoon. \u201cIn a country where so-called \u201chonour\u201d killings are common practice,\nthe brutality of the killing has forced Pakistan to confront its poor record on\ngender-based violence.\u201d The newspaper also reminded us that in the World Economic Forum\u2019s global gender index, the country is\nranked 153 out of 156 countries, just above its Taliban-ravaged neighbour\nAfghanistan. What is appalling in the situation is not that she was murdered,\nwhich it is, but that the media and large sections of Pakistan society have\nblamed the victim, for just being who she was and where she was i.e., in her\nmurderer\u2019s house as if being there was an invitation to be deprived of her\nlife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan is\na sick society where all systems and structures and institutional policies and\npractices are anti-women. It is an unsafe environment for women; from cradle to\ngrave (yes, even after death they are not safe). So, what is it that women\ndemand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Demands of Pakistani women<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Compared to\nwhat women can take for granted in many countries and cultures, the demands of Pakistani\nwomen are quite simple and basic. Central to their demands is equality with\nmen, in the home and outside; freedom of movement (including to access male\nspaces); freedom of choice in matters such as relationships and life generally\n(<em>My body, My choice<\/em>); freedom to travel; freedom to drive a car or\ncycle\/motorbike; equal access to work and opportunities; equal pay; freedom\nfrom abuse and harassment; safety and dignity in the workplace and wider\nsociety. In other words, women demand equality with men, in the home and\noutside. They demand all the rights that are taken-for-granted in the wider civilised\nglobal community, and which are their human rights within the United Nations\ncharters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tanveer Zaman Khan (translated from Urdu by Dr Karamat Iqbal) In the Pakistani society women are treated as a symptom of all that is bad. Even worse, men are seen as inherently good and whose corruption is blamed on women. Women are the temptress who use their obscene bodies to lead the innocent man &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/?p=1719\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Not easy being a woman in Pakistan&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1720,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions\/1720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardpartnership.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}